Life of Wry

First college break.. Peter’s coming home!

He figured out he could get a jump on the Thanksgiving break–by missing just one day of classes, he could expand his vacation from four days to nine days. This seemed like a great idea, plus, more days for golf! 

He just couldn’t cope with the prospect of lugging a duffle bag for clothes, a computer bag, a backpack and a set of golf clubs through bus terminals, train stations or airports and opted to look into renting a car.

Renting a car gets complicated for anyone under the age of 25, but he found a company that had an under-25 option, E-Z Rent-A-Car!  There would be a small surcharge, some restrictions on pick up and drop off, but all things considered, it seemed like a very manageable option.

Now, I have a lot of faith in Peter’s driving, but I have to say I was kind of a wreck… there were just a LOT of hoops to jump through to carry this off successfully, and I knew I wasn’t going to relax until I saw him walk through the front door.

He finished his last class on Friday at 2:00 and took first a bus and then a trolly to the San Diego airport. A lot of haggling and hitches later (having to do with insurance plans and debit card payments…both issues involving numerous texts back and forth with Jim), he left E-Z with a nice VW Passat. He drove back to La Jolla for all his stuff, then hit the road (I-5) pretty much at the peak of rush hour. He had to get through the Friday evening, pre-holiday gridlock of San Diego County, Orange County, then the traffic nightmare of LA and the Valley. It took hours and hours just to get to the Grapevine. There, he stopped for coffee and called us to let us know he was looking at a 2:00-3:00am ETA.

And, at 2:20am, he rolled right in, totally chipper and pleased with himself. And SO happy to be home!

We were ecstatic (though conveyed confident coolness). Many hugs were exchanged.

I was even ready with my camera. Not bad given the wee hour.

We had lots to talk about, and did.. and then went to bed… Peter wanted to get up by 6:00am to get the car back to San Francisco (the only place in Northern California  where E-Z has an office!) and get back to Davis in time to play some afternoon golf. (Really.)

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Except a storm came in.

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At 6:00am, it was just too rainy and wet to play golf, so thankfully there was no reason to get up with the crows. Instead, he slept in a bit, and we headed to San Francisco late this morning.

It rained and splashed and sprayed the whole way. Peter said today’s leg of the journey was far more stressful than last night’s drive.

Finding E-Z was anything but. It was not with all the other rental outfits.. located instead down in Burlingame. But the check in was quick.

Hmmm.. now what? We decided to go to a place in Daly City for a late lunch that Peter found a few months ago when playing Harding Park with Ray and Dylan. It was fun to follow his lead on this..

The place was a 60’s vintage lounge called the Boulevard Cafe:

We had a couple of standards — a Club (Peter) and a Reuben (me):

Both completely perfect.

Peter then offered to give me a tour of the nearby famous golf courses. We drove by the Olympic Club and then decided to get a closer look at Harding Park…

Lots of Cypress trees, lush fairways, extremely manicured greens.. and a whole bunch of wandering raccoons!

The drive home was long… as the rain and traffic continued… but so very lovely to have so much time to spend with the boy.